Why can’t we get people to do what we want them to do? What is the matter with people? Don’t they know that we know better than they do and they should follow our directions? I don’t know. Maybe it is just a character flaw of mine to think that way. Well, anyway, in early June I gave away 811 copies of one of my novels. When someone gives me something, whether I want it or not, I say “Thank you.” My mom taught me that, and if I didn’t do it I caught hell from her. She was a Saint, but she didn’t mess around with her instructions to her youngest son.
So what happened with that 811 novel giveaway? All I asked in return was that if they got ANYTHING out of reading that book was just to leave a short review of it on Amazon. I didn’t tell them to give it a five star review, a four star review, a three star review – they could have panned the hell out of it. I left that choice up to them. But the worst thing that can happen to any writer is just to be ignored. Two people out of 811 left reviews and only one of those from someone who was not a friend of a friend of mine.
So what have we learned from this? I’m not sure, except that it is human nature when someone gets something for nothing without paying for it in some manner – it just isn’t of any value to them.
johnbeckmanbooks 